Casket salesman sentenced for bilking elderly

Leigh Ann Banta's father, Paul Hogan, lay in his grave without a headstone for a year, though he had paid for one years before.

Her mother, Helen Hogan, joined her husband Paul in January and was buried in a mahogany casket that had been stolen, unbeknownst to Banta at the time.

"My mother will lay in eternity in stolen property," Banta said through tears. "That would kill her all over again."

The man behind her parents' pre-need funeral arrangements, Robert Kraft, was sentenced in Jefferson Circuit Court on Tuesday to five years in prison for stealing more than $30,000 from elderly victims and their families through a funeral goods business.

Kraft, 53, of Sellersburg, Ind., pleaded guilty in June to 20 felony counts, specifically 11 counts of theft, one count of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult and eight counts of failure to put money he received for pre-payment of funeral goods into a trust, as mandated by state law.

Kraft sold pre-need caskets and vaults to six Louisville residents between November 2011 and November 2012, according to his indictment. Kraft did not deposit the money into a trust account, and both sides said in court Tuesday that Kraft used it to pay off personal debts.

Having long ago cashed the Hogans' check, Kraft lied to the family about the reason he was not able to provide a headstone for Paul Hogan and to a Louisville funeral home director to secure the mahogany casket for Helen Hogan.

Judge James Shake cited the ongoing, repetitive criminal nature of Kraft's activities upon sentencing, noting the conscious choice to commit the acts.

Kraft also faces six charges of theft and intentional misuse of funds in Clark County Circuit Court in Indiana, according to court records.

Kraft's attorney, Aaron Dyke, said his client intended to run a legitimate business and did not intend to deceive his customers and use their payments to help erase his own personal debts. Rather, Dyke said, Kraft was a bumbling businessman who significantly mismanaged his own business and finances.

"This is poor money management that spiraled completely out of control," Dyke said in court.

Dyke read a statement from Kraft at the sentencing in which Kraft said he fully intended to repay the families.

Kraft's attorney said his client is gainfully employed in the service industry and able to make payments on restitution to the victims' families. Putting Kraft in prison, he said, would be counterproductive to repayment.

Prosecutor Barbara Whaley said Kraft was fully aware of his actions and intended to misuse customers' payments and asked Shake to send Kraft to prison. Shake ordered that he be sentenced to five years in prison on multiple charges, to be served concurrently.

Banta said she was pleased with Kraft's sentence and with her statement to him in court.

"The jail time wasn't as important to me as him knowing what he did wrong," she said.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at (502) 582-4989. Follow him on Twitter at @MattGlo.